Grill your own Meat at Bar-B-Q

Staying in Puchong is indeed a mini food haven to us. This small town which used to be known only for traffic jams is now getting famous for the huge variety of food outlets it offers. Bar-B-Q Plaza in IOI Mall is another addition to the never-ending food list of Puchong. Even though it has been around for quite a few months, we only managed to give it a try recently, when we were in the mood for BBQ.

BBQ meat sets

Mouth-watering wallpaper

The thing with BBQ that I don’t quite like is the smell of smoke that is inevitable. Most of the time, the ventilation of BBQ restaurants leave much to be desired, and we end up smelling like smoke after having a meal there. Not to mention the continuous perspiration we would experience from the heat of the fire too. But I’m happy to say that the experience at Bar-B-Q Plaza was really comfortable. Sure the heat was there, but the strong air-conditioning made the experience a whole lot more bearable, and I didn’t think I smell like smoke after the meal too. 🙂

Comfortable dining area at Bar-B-Q Plaza, IOI Mall

Once we placed our orders, we were served a plate of condiments and a bowl of sauce. It was a plate of chopped garlic, a slice of lime and some bird’s eye chilli.

Trio of condiments

Apparently, the BBQ sauce is actually vegetarian-based, and imported all the way from Bangkok! It tasted a little like oyster sauce, but with more flavour.

Special vegetarian- based sauce imported from Bangkok

According to the guideline, we were supposed to add in all the condiments into the BBQ sauce to give it a twist and to bring forth the finest flavour of the barbecued meat.

Give it a twist!

While waiting for our food to arrive, I took a look at the mini “How to Cook” pamphlet on the table. While most BBQ places use butter to oil the pan, this place uses lard! 2 fat pieces of lard were provided to us, and I initially thought they were fish cakes for appetizers! *LOL* Luckily I read the guideline just in time to know that they were indeed lard. Of course, using lard would definitely make the meat taste a lot more delicious and fragrant!

How to cook

A hot plate was presented to us, with a concave surface, and a narrow sunken area surrounding it filled with soup. I thought the hot plate was nicely designed with such a shape to allow heat to be distributed evenly, but I didn’t find the soup area too convenient. It was too narrow and placing vegetables or noodles in it proved to be quite a chore.

The hot plate

We ordered two sets to be shared, the first being the Economy Beef Set, which had slices of beef, udon, sliced cabbage, baby corn, lettuce and tomato. I can’t help but notice that there was only one measly slice of tomato and one slice of carrot given! What was their point exactly?

Economy Beef Set (RM20.90)

The measly carrot and tomato aside, I could see that the beef slices were fresh, shiny and red. They also had a slightly marbled texture, giving them a nice juicy bite if I just slightly cook them! Given the nature of them being so thinly-sliced, I only needed to grill them for about 5-10 seconds on each side to have a slice of tender beef.

Fresh slices of beef

Our second set was the Economy Pork Set, which had exactly what the beef set had, except with pork slices.

Economy Pork Set (RM20.90)

Again, the pork slices were cut freshly, as can be seen from the nice pinkish colour. They also had a nice texture and not overly fatty.

Pinkish pork slices

Following the instructions, we placed a piece of pork lard on top of the hot plate, letting it sizzle and grease the rest of the area.

Pork Lard to grease the hot plate

When it was hot enough, we placed some slices of beef on top. Look at how nice they turned out to be just after 5 seconds! If you like it more raw, just grill one side of the meat.

Grilled beef slices

A bowl of rice was given for each set too, to ensure that you end the meal feeling full?

Grilled Beef slice

If you ask me, eating the grilled beef on its own is quite bland, for there’s no seasoning used on them at all. Just pure raw meat sliced up and grilled. But if you add it with the sauce, it’s a completely different story! I fell in love with the savoury, slightly sweet, sour and spicy sauce! Now you only get this if you combine all the condiments as above. And I couldn’t help but dip my meat slices into the sauce all the time. The good news is, the sauce is refillable too! 🙂

Dip the beef into the BBQ sauce

Comparing the beef and pork, I preferred the beef slices as they seemed to be more tender flavourful.

Grilled pork slices

So what did we do with the cabbage and udon? Plunk them in the narrow opening at the edge of the hot plate! It’s quite a chore to fit the vegetables in, I wish they had a bigger opening for the soup!

Cooking the udon and cabbage in the soup

To be honest, the soup was bland, and tasted somewhat like water, even though they claimed it’s stock. I guess you need to put in more vegetables (more carrots/tomatoes perhaps) to make it more flavourful.

Grilled pork and beef slices with cabbage on the side

Overall, I found the BBQ experience quite an enjoyable one, especially the beef slices that went well with the combination of sauce. It would be much better if they had a more comfortable opening for the ‘steamboat’ section or just do away with it altogether.

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About Iamthewitch

Hailing from the small tropical country of Malaysia, Mei Yee (iamthewitch) has a mission of leaving a mark in people’s heart by giving honest reviews on food, detailed guides on travel plans, and sharing her parenting journey with her newborn Little J. Currently stationed in the beautiful multicultural city of Sydney, Australia, she takes respite from her full-time engineering job by exploring new places to eat and traveling occasionally to neighbouring countries. There’s nothing in the world she loves more than delicious food! And of course, her 2 precious boys. ;) Read More…